A senior White House official said Monday that regulations to toughen oversight of oil-and-gas “fracking” on federal lands are on track despite a two-month extension of the public comment period announced last week.
Heather Zichal, the top White House energy aide, told reporters that she expects the Interior Department rules regulating hydraulic fracturing, dubbed fracking, to be completed by year’s end.

An Interior department spokesman offered the same forecast Friday. But the comments from a senior White House official could help ease jitters among environmentalists, who fear the extension of the comment period, until mid-September, on the draft rules could set back the measure.

“We are committed to doing the rule and we are committed to finalizing it,” Zichal told reporters after remarks at the think tank NDN.

Advocates of tougher “fracking” oversight will have their eyes on the calendar, especially if President Obama loses the White House to Mitt Romney, his GOP rival.

Romney has accused the White House of creating unnecessary regulations, and his campaign tells The Hill that Romney does not support Interior’s rules.

The decision to grant a two-month extension followed a push by oil-and-gas industry groups — who oppose plans for new federal regulation — and several states for more time to weigh in on rules proposed in draft form in May.

Zichal cast the extension as a positive step toward crafting final rules.

“I think we saw and heard some issues both from the environmental community, from the industry side, and we need a little bit more time to look at those issues and allow them to engage in this process, and I think the more people are allowed to engage in the process we will be able to end up with a better rule,” she said at NDN, a left-leaning think tank.

In her wide-ranging remarks on energy to the group, Zichal touted White House plans to spur development of both traditional and alternative sources, including natural gas.

Administration officials say they strongly back expanded gas production but want to ensure fracking is conducted with proper safeguards.

Fracking involves high-pressure injections of water, chemicals and sand into shale formations to open seams that enable hydrocarbons to flow. The method is enabling a natural-gas production boom in the United States, but is bringing fears of pollution along with it.

Interior floated draft rules in May that require industry disclosure of chemicals used in the fracking process. The draft rules also address well integrity and management of so-called flowback water.

Elsewhere in her remarks, Zichal said Obama will continue making the case for White House energy policies. The president has given a slew of energy-themed speeches this year to help parry GOP attacks.

“I expect you will continue to hear a lot from the president,” she said. Zichal also kept up pressure on Congress to extend tax credits for wind energy projects.

The production tax credit is slated to expire at the end of the year, and wind industry officials say the uncertainty has already begun causing layoffs along the supply chain.

Zichal noted recent comments by Karl Rove, who was former President George W. Bush’s top political adviser, in support of extending the credit to show the breadth of backing for the incentives.

“There is not a good reason for why Congress has not acted,” Zichal said. “You can expect to continue to hear from the president directly on that.”

Original Article

By Kyle Barnett

BATON ROUGE – U.S. Senator David Vitter said he has a “big problem” with Governor Bobby Jindal’s inaction on “legacy lawsuit” reform.

Vitter has been one of Jindal’s harshest critics on the issue, which pits landowners and trial attorneys against the oil and gas industry over how cleanup of environmental damage from oil drilling years ago should be handled.

“I just think he has been very counter-productive,” Vitter said. “He’s basically said behind the scenes and through (Secretary of Department of Natural Resources) Scott Angelle that he won’t get involved and push legislation until both sides agree on something.”

Vitter said legacy lawsuit reform has strong implications for the well-being of the state’s economy, but Jindal’s lack of involvement gives an edge for trial lawyers.

“…[O]ne side, namely the trial lawyers, said it doesn’t want anything to happen,” Vitter said. “So that’s a recipe for non-action. That’s giving their side a veto when they’re perfectly happy with nothing happening this session. So I have a big problem with that approach.”

Jindal’s close relationship with former executive counsel and trial attorney Jimmy Faircloth, who represents one of the state’s largest landowners, has been rumored to underlie his handling of the reform issue for which he has been criticized by local and national figures.

A bill favored by the energy industry, HB618, sponsored by Neil Abramson, D-New Orleans, passed the House last week, but is now being held up by Senate President John Alario, R-Westwego, who was Jindal’s selection for the top Senate spot.

“Obviously, the Senate leadership is there because of the governor, but I don’t know exactly what communications have gone on,” Vitter said.

Melissa Landry, Executive Director of Louisiana Lawsuit Abuse Watch, said the orders to hold up the bill could have only come from one place.

“[T]his appears to be an abuse of the process in attempt to make sure that a bill that has the votes doesn’t pass,” Landry said. “I don’t think it is too much to suggest, but directions like that can only come from one place, that being the governor’s office. So it is unfortunate that a bill that passed broadly in the House and showed overwhelming support is not even given a fair hearing.”

Landry said the democratic process is basically being overthrown.

“The fact of the matter is that it’s an abuse of the process,” she said. “The bill deserves a fair hearing and it looks like the reason they don’t want to give it a fair hearing is because they know it has the votes to pass.”

This is not the first time the landowner’s side has been implicated in underhanded tactics. Abramson said during a committee hearing on HB618 that his career was threatened if he continued to advance the bill.

The day after the bill passed in committee, Abramson had an ethics violation charge filed against him by Baton Rouge attorney Don Carmouche, who handles numerous legacy cases.

Carmouche has also been seeking to depose Louisiana State University professor Dr. David Dismukes over his academic study that correlated the filing of more than 1,500 legacy lawsuits with a reduction in drilling to the effect of a $6.8 billion loss to the state economy over the past eight years.

Vitter said he is sure that more underhanded behavior is going on behind the scenes to keep the legislation from moving forward.

“I’ve certainly heard about (those situations) and I believe that they happened and there is a lot more probably happening that I don’t know about,” he said. “But my take is that there is huge money at stake for a chosen few including these trial lawyers and that’s unfortunately what happens when that is the case.”

Vitter said another issue that is occurring right now deals with competing legislation that is supported by landowners and trial attorneys.

Sen. Bret Allain, R-Franklin, passed HB760 through the Senate Natural Resources Committee that would provide protection to smaller energy companies which may have not had anything to do with the pollution on “legacy” sites.

Vitter said that clause was put in with hopes of stymieing a group approach to the issue.

“The trial lawyers’ side is pushing this anti-indemnity language and I think that’s a big red herring to sort of confuse the issue and to help run out the clock,” he said. “It’s supposed to help the small producers, but the industry side does not want it.

“[T]his is an effort to divide and conquer, confuse the issue and run out the clock.”

Any reform would have to pass by the end of the session on June 4.

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President Barack Obama says Americans are getting hit twice _ once at the gas pump, and once more by sending billions of dollars in tax subsidies to oil companies.

“Right now the biggest oil companies are raking in record profits,”  the president said.  “Last year the three biggest U.S. oil companies took home more than $80 billion in profits.”

Flanked by dozens of invited guests in the Rose Garden, Obama is again seeking to pressure Congress to end $4 billion in tax subsidies. He says oil companies shouldn’t get taxpayer help when that money could be used on alternative energy.

Obama, up for re-election, has sought to align himself with people frustrated by high gas prices.

Many congressional Republicans say cutting the tax breaks would lead to higher fuel prices, raising costs on oil companies and affecting their spending on exploration. Obama couldn’t end the subsidies when Democrats controlled Congress earlier in his term.

The oil industry in Louisiana is taking issue with the president.

“He’s talking about $4 billion dollars in which he calls ’subsidies.’  These are not subsidies.  They are tax investments that all other industries here in the U.S. share,” said Don Briggs with the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association.  “He’s just singling out the (oil) industry.”

Briggs insists this is part of a political ploy to phase out the oil industry.

“He really wants to see energy prices go up,” Briggs insisted of President Obama.  “He’s doing it politically.”

He insists this will drive energy prices higher.  “It’s an absolutely ridiculous time to be doing this.”

original article

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The World Trade Center of New Orleans is proud to welcome world-renowned author and energy expert Dr. Daniel Yergin for a very special breakfast briefing on Tuesday, April 17 at 8:00 a.m. Dr. Yergin will address the future of energy and its impact on the Gulf Coast region. Cost to attend is $50 for WTCNO Members and $65 for Future Members

Daniel Yergin is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “The Prize: the Epic Quest for Oil Money and Power,” which was a New York Times bestseller and has been translated into 17 languages. His new book, “The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World” has been hailed as “necessary reading for CEOs, conservationists, lawmakers, generals, spies, tech geeks, thriller writers, and many others”.

Daniel Yergin is CNBC’s Global Energy Expert and is an advisor to the Secretary of Energy. Dr. Yergin has been called “America’s most influential energy pundit” and his works have been considered must-reads for more than two decades.

This event is produced in cooperation with the Louisiana Oil & Gas Association & the Louisiana Association of Business & Industry.

Registration is available online by clicking here.

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Over the coming days, the top four Republican presidential candidates will make stops in Louisiana pleading their case of why they should become the nominee to face President Barack Obama. Each contestant has slightly different views that differentiate him from the president.

Regarding energy, Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul each take a different approach to their energy policy, yet each of their positions have common threads.

Santorum’s energy policy pushes for the removal of drilling bans on and offshore. Romney, Gingrich and Paul all agree on this issue as well — more drilling equals less dependence on foreign oil.

Santorum is promoting the use of natural gas on the basis that more than half of U.S. homes are heated by it. Santorum is calling for the immediate approval of the Keystone Pipeline. However, Santorum is calling to end what he and Obama call “energy subsidies.” The oil and gas industry is in direct opposition to Obama on this very issue.

Romney focuses on

regulatory reform within the energy industry. He desires to see fixed timetables for all resource development approvals, the creation of a one-stop shop to streamline the permitting process and the implementation of fast-track procedures for companies with established safety records. Romney, like Santorum, is also in favor of the Keystone Pipeline project.

Gingrich is making waves amongst the candidates by campaigning for the closure of the Environmental Protection Agency. Gingrich has made it clear that reform must take place surrounding frivolous lawsuits, or what Louisiana knows as Legacy Lawsuits.

Along with Gingrich, Ron Paul is pushing for the closure of the EPA. He feels that those causing pollution issues should answer to property owners in court. Paul’s energy stance calls for the repeal of the federal gasoline tax, which would save consumers 18 cents per gallon. Paul would then make tax credits available for the purchase and production of alternative fuel technologies.

While these candidates engage in an important part of the electoral process, the oil and gas industry will continue in the fight to end Legacy Lawsuits, oppose the removal of investment tax credits by the Obama administration, and remain diligent in the U.S. production of oil and natural gas.

original article

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The United States is expected to be the world’s top oil and gas producer by 2020, provided the federal government restores access to exploration sites, permits the industry to expand technology and realize that oil and gas is the primary energy source and key provider for a strong economy.

That projection was made by Louisiana Oil and Gas Association President Don Briggs as he presented his State of the Industry address to fewer than 200 members of the South Central Industrial Association last Tuesday in Houma.

Briggs was critical of the Obama Administration for its reaction to the April 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill that resulted in a six month moratorium on deepwater drilling and a de-facto ban on all offshore activity with the stalling of permits and lease sales during the past 21 months. He assured his listeners that changes are on the way that could open the industry to new opportunities in the future.

“Today we are truly in an evolution in our industry,” Briggs said. “The whole industry is changing before our eyes around the world.”

Briggs said that technology such as lateral drilling, opportunities in shale sites and increased demand for natural gas with alternative uses will place domestic extraction and processing on a new level of operation.

The LOGA leader offered expected charts on daily oil and gas production and noted consumption levels around the world. He specifically listed Middle East tension and concern about future access to the Strait of Hormuz that could completely change the business of global crude oil production, including where top exploration takes place.

“If Iran does shut [the Strait of Hormuz] down it would have tremendous impact on prices and we could easily see oil climbing up to $240 a barrel,” Briggs said.

Energy consumption is expected to increase due to hydraulic fracking, which is essential for the production of natural gas and oil from shale formations thousands of feet into the earth.

“[Business] is coming back,” Briggs said. “North America holds the world’s largest combined oil and coal and natural gas resources in the world, enough to fuel our need for the next 250 years.”

Non-conventional energy is attracting companies from around the world, according to Briggs, and the expectation is that within the coming decades, the U.S. would be restored as an industrial powerhouse.

“Growth in our natural gas is changing everything for us,” Briggs said. He added that Louisiana is in competition for control of natural gas wanted to generate electrical power plants and other industries. “[Global countries] are starting to invest in the U.S. oil and gas non-conventional resources in the United States.”

During his State of the Union address in January, President Obama said he would not walk away from the promise of clean energy. Briggs played a clip of that speech and said wind, solar and bio-fuels do not compete with oil and gas and they promise what cannot be easily delivered and made cost effective. “Anyone who believes this administration cares about the oil and gas industry [is] truly confused,” he said while noting propaganda presented to the public by opponents to the industry.

The LOGA president said it is important that those in the business of oil and gas prepare themselves for the future, and added that a change in Washington could benefit the industry and future energy stability in America.

“We are an energy state,” Briggs added. “We care about the energy business.”

original article

In his State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Obama directed his Administration to open more offshore oil and gas resources for development and redirect tax incentives from the production of oil to the production of clean fuels, including natural gas.

“We have subsidized oil companies for a century. That’s long enough,” Obama said in his address. “It’s time to end the taxpayer giveaways to an industry that’s rarely been more profitable, and double-down on a clean energy industry that’s never been more promising. Pass clean energy tax credits and create these jobs.”

In Southwest Louisiana, where natural gas is abundant, Obama’s plans were viewed as campaign rhetoric.

“Missed opportunities,” said Harold Schoeffler of Lafayette, a leader in the Acadiana Chapter of the Sierra Club and a proponent/investor in offshore wind energy.

Schoeffler said as he watched the State of the Union speech he wondered why the Obama Administration hasn’t already done the things he proposed Tuesday.

Since World War II, the opportunities and technology have been available to turn abundant natural gas into gasoline and diesel for automobiles. The federal government knows about it but has done nothing to encourage it, he said.

A process called Fischer-Tropsch can change natural gas and methane – a renewable energy source — into a high-energy, clean-burning gasoline and diesel that can be used in automobiles without needing to modify them, Schoeffler said.

With natural gas prices under $3, now is a good time to move forward, he said. Within two or three years, Americans could be powering their cars with this high-octane, cheap, clean fuel.

“It’s more critical now because of the Iranian threat, all the turmoil in the oil-producing nations,” Schoeffler said. “That turmoil could deal our economy a death blow.”

The venture could be profitable since $30 worth of natural gas would produce about $140 worth of gasoline or diesel, he said. The process uses a lot less water than refineries. In fact, water it produced through the process.

Louisiana, with natural gas reserves larger than any other state, should be home to some of these Fischer-Tropsch natural gas plants and one should be located at the Henry Hub in Vermilion Parish, Schoeffler said.

The tax incentives Obama wants to take away from the oil companies would also affect wells in South Louisiana that are drilling for natural gas, Don Briggs, Louisiana Oil and Gas Association president, said Wednesday.

President Obama is again pushing cap and trade, and incentives for cleaner fuels like wind and solar power, not oil and gas, he said.

“I’m directing my Administration to open more than 75 percent of our potential offshore oil and gas resources,” Obama said in his State of the Union Address.
Briggs called it all “smoke and mirrors.”

“You can open all (the oil and gas territory) you want to,” Briggs said.

Federal permitting for offshore oil production remains at a snail’s pace since the 2010 BP blowout and oil spill, so it doesn’t matter how much territory you open, he said.

In his State of the Industry address Tuesday in Lafayette, Briggs said permitting took about 36 days before the BP disaster. Today, it takes about 131 days.

Original Article

Today, Senator David Vitter and 20 other senators sent a letter to President Obama urging him to lift restrictions on oil and gas development and alternative energy sources. 

”American energy, skills for American worker.” President Obama talked about relying more on American energy pushing to open more than 75-percent of the country’s potential offshore oil and gas resources.

Senator David Vitter agrees, but wants the President to first lift government restrictions on the Keystone XL pipeline project, which the Obama administration recently denied. “It’s important for domestic energy because it will have important on-ramps to get oil from the Dakotas and Oklahoma to our refineries in the Gulf Coast”

President of Louisiana Oil and Gas Association Don Briggs agrees the Keystone project will increase oil production and create jobs. “That pipeline would not have just been coming through the state, there would’ve been thousands and thousands of pipeline through this country that would have created over 20,000 jobs,” Briggs said.

“Producing the enegry we need, traditional and fossil fuels and clean energy sources can create a lot of jobs,” Senator Mary Landrieu said.

The Environmental Protection agency came out against the Keystone KL pipeline saying the consequences of greenhouse gas emissions are global and could potentially impact the United States.

Original Article